Miss Medieval

Imagine your initials are AHRC.

2009-05-30T02:48:00.003+01:00

Does this make you want to throw money at me?

I wish to do an MA in Medieval Studies in order to pursue an academic career in this field. I have a strong grounding in Classics from my BA, including Greek and Latin language, and I wish to further study the relationship between medieval and Classical literature, as well as developing my interest in medieval spirituality and religion.

I chose all possible medieval options during my BA in the English department. I have enthusiastically attended the London Old and Middle English Research Seminars (LOMERS), as well as the college’s Old English Reading Group. I will also be attending the intensive Reading Middle English course run by the London Palaeography Summer School next month.

I believe that, with this funding, I will be able to contribute significantly to the department and, eventually, to the field. I intend to go on to PhD level and to publish on Classical and religious influences on literature between 1300 and 1500.

I felt very arrogant writing it, and a little dirty.

Still Alive

2009-02-08T16:29:00.001Z

I know, I know, it's been a long time. Busyness and laziness are a deadly combination. I feel I owe anyone reading this an extra big apology, though, as this one actually has followers. Please don't give up on me! I've set myself a target for a blog post (in any blog) per week, and I think that's do-able. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I've finally said goodbye to LJ entirely - Candyfloss and Medicine is now joining its friends on Blogger. Here I am.

Medieval posts will resume... sometime.

The Society for Creative Anachronism

2008-08-05T23:20:00.003+01:00

I would like to register my appreciation for the SCA, particularly Stefan's Florilegium.

I'm going to make a pair of these:

The "Ballyhagan Shoe," a pre-10th century Irish slipper.

Simple, non? I doubt pre-10th century Irish folk wore them in electric purple with plastic beads and sequins sewn on, but still.

Revelations of Divine Love

2008-07-23T10:02:00.000+01:00

I've just finished this book, and I'm struggling for anything to say other than LOVE LOVE LOVE. Not desperately academic, I know, but still.

Saints are awesome generally but Julian really is my kind of saint. Look, she has a cat. All she needs is a mug of tea next to her.

I was maybe a teensy bit irritated by her habit of numbering absolutely everything off, but I love how she strove for clarity. It was so refreshing, though: my heart always does a little dance when I find someone who sees the Christian faith for what it is - love. It's all about love. Who says no to love?

I mention Julian at a university cell meeting once. A girl called Emily screwed up her nose and said, "She's dodge." So I was kind of prepared for some pretty hefty heresy. I know that Julian's perspective wasn't entirely in line with Catholic dogma of the time but she's always rattling on about the "Holy Church." I wonder if she was seen as a heretic. I'll find out next term, I imagine.

I don't think Julian's dodge. I think she's largely right. And it was exciting to see so much of what I'm going for in a Medieval anchorite. The church changes, but the truth doesn't. I like that.

She also has a website. Amazing to think that even anchorite's cells have internet these days.

I'm Off

2008-06-11T18:28:00.001+01:00

A quick note to let you know that I won't be posting for at least a month - I'm off to Mozambique! Just in case anyone pops by and wonders if I've died or something.

Age of Gold

2008-06-01T00:05:00.000+01:00

Today I am a slightly sad little Medievalist, because I have run out of some of the right colour threads for my Medieval posy design. Yes, embroidery, you heard it here first. It's not much, mostly just a simple cross-stitch. Pretty, though. I may take a photo and post it when I'm done.

But mostly I am a very happy Medievalist because I received a pressie in the post today. My friend Celia Blay, a fellow member of The Society of Mentally Divergent Medievalists for Christ, sent me a copy of her book, Age of Gold. I shall now proceed to sing its praises. In all honesty, I haven't finished it yet, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the first third. Its an exploration of the Waltham area in East Berkshire, particularly Beenhams Heath, Waltham St Lawrence, Shurlock Row, Shottesbrooke, Paley Street and White Waltham, from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Obviously the book is of more interest if you live there or know the area, but it's wide-ranging enough and provides enough background information to draw in any self-respecting history or archaeology nut. Whilst maintaining the focus on the area in question, all sorts of historical bits and pieces are brought in. It faithfully provides a glimpse of early Medieval England by making the land the central point and the grounding of everything else, as it was at the time. East Berkshire is certainly a gold mine (ha ha) of an area: holy wells, battlegrounds, a royal palace and goldsmithing workshops galore. I shall have to stomp around there sometime, pointing out to myself all the sites that are in the book.

Its of a genre all its own really: academic and yet accessible, uniquely Celia. If you can skate over typos without wriggling in your seat, it's very readable. It treads the line between myth and archaeological evidence, often blurring them together, exactly as history does. You should buy it. Either from here or from c_a_blay@hotmail.com.

Amusant aussi

2008-05-19T23:48:00.000+01:00

(nabbed from In the Middle)

And here is the actual "O Fortuna."

Amusant

2008-05-19T23:15:00.000+01:00

(nabbed from The Medieval Geek's Guide, click to enlarge)

Summer Reading

2008-05-19T17:19:00.000+01:00

Special Author Chaucer (dissertation)

Primary Reading:

Romaunt of the Rose Fragment A
Troilus and Criseyde
The Book of the Duchess
Parliament of Foules
The House of Fame
The Legend of Good Women

Also Handy:

Dante’s Divine Comedy
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Virgil's Aeneid

Secondary Reading:

Derek Pearsall, The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer (London, Blackwell, 1995)
A. C. Spearing, Medieval Dream Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976)
Derek Brewer, The World of Chaucer, new edition (Cambridge: Brewer, 2000)
Peter Brown, A Companion to Chaucer (Blackwell, 2000)
Steve Ellis (ed.), Chaucer: An Oxford Guide (OUP,2005)
Douglas Gray (ed.), An Oxford Companion to Chaucer (OUP,2003)

Medieval Dream and Vision

Piers Plowman XVIII, XX
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. E. Spearing, Penguin Classics, 1998
The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. Barry Windeatt, Penguin Classics, 1994

Medieval Drama

English Mystery Plays, ed. P. Happé (Penguin, 1975 )
G. A. Lester, Three Late Medieval Plays (New Mermaids Series, 2002)
The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Theatre, ed. Richard Beadle (Cambridge, 1993)

Any other suggestions, particularly for secondary reading, would be very gratefully received!

The Awkward First Post

2008-05-15T18:42:00.000+01:00

Hello!

I'm just about to go into the third year of my undergraduate degree in English and Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London. I've been a big fan of All Things Medieval for a few years, really since I discovered Chaucer at A Level. Last year I took a Middle English Poetry course and was reduced to tears by Piers Plowman. (Tragic, I know.) I'm creating this blog now because I'm really "going Medieval" in a fairly massive way next year - the entire English half of my degree, in fact. The courses I'm taking are: Medieval Dream and Vision and Medieval Drama, and I'm also doing an extended essay/dissertation on Chaucer's courtly poetry. I'm considering doing RHUL's Medieval Studies MA after that, though there are money issues there. I'd like to write a thesis on something to do with the Medieval Church/religious literature and its influence on Piers, or perhaps the Medieval influence on Clara Reeve. Anyway, advance reading, etc for next year's courses will be starting fairly soon, so there'll be plenty to blog about.